Congressional Oversight

The government has a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. The congressman whose district it's in says someone might steal from it at night; so Congress creates a night watchman, GS-4 position, and hires a person for the job.  

Then the congressman asks, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?"

So Congress creates a planning position and hires two people -- one person to write the instructions, a GS-12, and one person to do time studies, a GS-11.

"How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" the congressman asks.

So Congress creates a quality control position and hires a GS-9 to do quality control studies and a GS-11 to write the reports.

Then the congressman asks, "How are these people going to get paid?"

So Congress authorizes positions of timekeeper, GS-9, and payroll officer, GS-11, and two people are hired to fill the slots.

"Who will be accountable for all of these people?" the congressman asks.

So they hire three people, an administrative officer, GS-13, an assistant administrative officer, GS-12, and a legal secretary, a GS-8.

On the eve of the next election season, the congressman looks at the cost and says, "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget. We must cutback overall costs."

So they lay off the night watchman.